House Republicans advance contempt charges against Secretary Blinken over Afghanistan testimony

[September 25, 2024]  By FARNOUSH AMIRI and MATTHEW LEE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday advanced contempt of Congress charges against Secretary of State Antony Blinken following a contentious back-and-forth with the Cabinet secretary over an appearance to testify on the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The 26-25 party-line vote was just the latest friction point between the GOP and the State Department this Congress. Republicans have worked for the last 18 months to hold the Biden administration accountable for what they have called a “stunning failure of leadership” after Taliban forces seized the Afghan capital in August 2021.

“Rather than take accountability for this, the secretary hides from the American people. He would prefer to hide rather than be before this committee today,” said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the chairman of the committee. “The Secretary’s willful indifference has brought us to this moment.”

The resolution now moves to the full House, which could vote to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress and refer the matter to the Justice Department. But Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters late Tuesday that the measure likely won't be taken up until after the presidential election.

Blinken, in a letter to McCaul, said that he was “profoundly disappointed” in the chairman's decision to advance contempt proceedings and urged him to find a resolution in “good faith.”

"As I have made clear, I am willing to testify and have offered several reasonable alternatives to the dates unilaterally demanded by the Committee during which I am carrying out the President’s important foreign policy objectives,” Blinken wrote in a Sunday letter.

McCaul defended his decision Tuesday, saying that he had “patiently asked for and waited” on Blinken's availability and that the department has been “disingenuous” because it had declined repeated requests to pick a date in September for Blinken to testify.

McCaul had first set a hearing for Blinken to testify last Thursday, while the secretary was in Egypt and France. He then changed the date to Tuesday, when Blinken was at the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders in New York and attending President Joe Biden ’s speech at the time of the hearing.

As all secretaries of state have in the past, Blinken will spend the entire week in New York holding dozens of meetings with his counterparts on a variety of issues but this year with a focus on the Mideast situation and the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Following the vote, Matthew Miller, State Department spokesperson, called the vote “a naked political exercise masquerading as oversight,” and accused Republicans of repeatedly calling for hearings on days they knew Blinken could not attend.

House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, left, listens while House Committee on Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., right, speaks during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing "An Assessment of the State Departments Withdrawal from Afghanistan by Americas Top Diplomat," on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

He added, “Chairman McCaul apparently believes it is in the nation’s interest to cede the diplomatic field to America’s adversaries, but we strongly disagree.”

Democrats on the committee blasted Republicans' contempt efforts as purely partisan, noting it’s taking place less than two months before a presidential election.

“It’s not difficult for the American people to see this for what it is: political theater,” New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the committee, said in an opening statement. “Another attempt to put another senior Biden administration official name into negative headlines.”

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly brought up the disastrous exit from Afghanistan in the campaign, trying to link it to his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. Several watchdog reviews and a more than 18-month investigation by House Republicans have failed to pinpoint an instance where Harris had a particular impact on decision-making on the withdrawal.

Blinken has testified about Afghanistan 14 times, including four times before McCaul’s committee, according to the State Department. But during the meeting Tuesday, McCaul said that the secretary has only attended the yearly budget hearings since he became chair and has never appeared to discuss their investigation into the withdrawal.

Miller said Blinken was willing to testify again if a mutually convenient time could be arranged but noted that Congress will be in recess from the end of this week until after the November election.

Earlier this month, House Republicans issued a scathing report on their investigation into the withdrawal, blaming the disastrous end of America’s longest war on the Biden administration while minimizing Trump’s role.

The partisan review laid out the final months of military and civilian failures, following Trump’s February 2020 withdrawal deal, which allowed the Taliban to conquer the country even before the last U.S. officials flew out on Aug. 30, 2021. The chaotic exit left behind many American citizens, Afghan battlefield allies, female activists and others at risk from the Taliban.

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